Decorating and Design Ideas for a Small Dining Room

In many condos, apartments and first homes a small dining room is just a way of life. Your dining room might be part of your living area or even your kitchen. In this situation it's very important to maximize all of your space. Here are a few tips for a small dining room that is still high on style.

Avoid clutter. Some dining tables are very prone to collecting clutter. It's very easy to just drop your mail or your keys on the table when you walk in the door. You might eat in front of the TV or at the kitchen island, so maybe you don't use your dining room table everyday. This can really make your room feel a lot smaller.. Just implement storage solutions for your mail and office supplies so that your space is very organized. This will create the allusion of even more space in your room.

Bring the outdoors in. This can really help your room feel bigger, especially if its cohesive with the outdoors. This way your room will just kind of extend out onto your patio. This is also very helpful for summer entertaining. You can do this by continuing the same color palette that is dominant in the outdoors inside. Another option is to go with very intricate molding around your French doors or windows. This would draw the eye out because it will almost appear like a piece of artwork.

Change your table shape. The best table shape really depends on the space that you are working with. Square tables will usually take up the most room because there is a lot of wasted space in the center. You could find a vintage table with drop down leaves. This ensures that your everyday area has a lot of space to it for when guests come over. You can just expand the table and they have this place to sit. You can also keep extra dining room chairs in another room until you need to use them. They could work in a living room as arm chairs or in the office as a desk chair.

Small rooms should have storage solutions. You can showcase your favorite china on shelves or hang plates instead of going with an oversized china cabinet or buffet. You really don't need to store a lot of different items in a dining room so really minimize any clutter that you have going on.

Mirrors are a mainstay in small space design. They bounce around a lot of light and when you look in the mirror you basically see another room. You can use this cohesive artwork to visually expand your space.